Windows 7 / Getting Started

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Changing your screen resolution

Screen resolution is the level of detail on your display. It is a measurement of how many pixels can fit across the width and height on your screen. Pixels are the smallest unit of measurement of the dots of color that make up the images on your screen. The higher the resolution, the finer the detail that can be shown on your display. With high resolutions like 1600x1200 pixels, the details are sharper, objects are smaller, and you can view more objects on your screen. At lower resolutions, such as 800x600, Windows displays fewer objects on your screen but they are larger. For some people, high resolution may be too hard to see. At a lower resolution, objects are larger and easier to see, but you cannot fit as much on your screen.

At a higher resolution like 1280x1024, objects are smaller, and you can fit more on your screen.

At a higher resolution like 1280x1024, objects are smaller, and you can fit more on your screen.

Every monitor or laptop screen is designed to look best at a specific resolution. This is called the optimum, or recommended, resolution for the screen. When Windows is installed on your computer or you connect a monitor, it detects the type of monitor and automatically adjusts the screen to the recommended resolution. You can adjust the resolution to make it fit your needs.

To change your resolution, follow these steps:

1. Right-click your desktop background (in a blank spot where there are no program windows open), and then click Screen resolution.
2. In the Screen Resolution window, click the Resolution dropdown list displays the resolutions available for this monitor.
3. Drag the slider up or down. The preview will change in size and shape as you move the slider.
4. Click Apply to reset the resolution without closing the Screen Resolution window.
   A dialog box may appear asking whether you want to keep these changes.
   This gives you a chance to try it without committing the changes.
   When you change your resolution, you have a chance to see what it will look like before committing to the new settings.
5. Click Keep changes if you like the new setting. Otherwise, let it revert.
   In some instances, if you select a resolution that is completely incompatible with your monitor or video card, Windows will display a warning message and not even attempt to apply the new resolution.

Note Wide-screen monitors are becoming the norm for desktop PCs and are gaining popularity in laptop computers. The screen resolution list for your computer may include both wide-screen and regular width (sometimes called normal aspect) resolutions. As you move the slider up or down, compare the shape in the preview of your monitor. If you use a resolution that does not match the height and width ratio of your screen, it may not look right. You may end up with black bars on the top and bottom, part of the desktop off-screen, or all of it on-screen but squished together so everything seems unnaturally tall and skinny.

Note If you connect your laptop computer to an external monitor or projector or if you have a desktop PC that has a video card that supports multiple monitors, the Screen Resolution window provides additional settings and features. Each monitor has its own resolution settings, and you can drag the monitors around in the preview window to match the actual physical position of your monitors. This allows you to move your windows and mouse pointer smoothly between monitors. If your monitors are different sizes and you want to use them side-by-side, you may need to adjust the resolutions on one or both of them so that program windows appear about the same size on either screen.